A.B.C.D - Apache, Brindavan, Corona, Danishpet

A Railfan’s plans are subject to market risks. Read all train related updates carefully.

21^st of March would be the day I say Tata to AIG. Two days later, I’d ride from Coimbatore to Mysuru, then Bengaluru, a little north to Hyderabad, and reach Chennai by the end of the week. My bike would complete 50k on the odometer before it turns 5. Life’s good. Corona Virus says hello.

The first change happens because of the pandemic. 20^th March, the Friday would be my last working day. I leave directly for Chennai on the 21^st. 493 kms and two halts at Salem and Ulundurpet would mean approximately 8 hrs for the journey. This wasn’t exactly how I wanted it, but who can fight COVID-19.

By Friday evening, there were more reasons to change plans again. A Ghaziabad WAP5 class locomotive, usually rare in the southern part of the country was coming with the Mumbai Nagercoil Express that goes via Salem, Namakkal, and Madurai. Corona or not, I was not going to miss out on clicking it. My railfanning stints are usually solo and with least possible human contact, so if you’re planning to bash my ideas, do read on before you do.

Danishpet is a small village at the base of the Yercaud hills in the Eastern Ghats. At km 310 from Chennai, it marks the end of the mini ghat section that begins at Lokur. A very picturesque railway station, which, for reasons unknown, has never attracted railfans in hordes. If not for Corona, a railfan from Bengaluru and I would have trekked these hills a week from now, but that’s now cancelled for good. Yet, if I make a small detour in my ride to Chennai, I could still manage to capture the WAP5 here.

The train reaches Salem at 15.35 hours in the afternoon. Salem is a two and half hour ride from 

Coimbatore, and Chennai is a five and half hour ride from Salem, on my Apache, at my lethargic pace. The perfectionist in me comes out only when I travel. I should reach my spot neither early nor late. A good 20 minutes is the minimum time I require as buffer and waiting for more than an hour for a single train in any kind of weather is a strict No.

Exactly at 10 AM, Dhvani Bhanushali ka break up ho gaya. Half an hour later, I left from RHR Singanallur for Chennai. My bike’s engine and transmission weren’t exactly at their best. This meant that my Maximum Permissible Speed was restricted to 80 kmph, just like the recently screwed up Andhra Pradesh Express, but let’s keep that for later. A good breakfast and a full tank meant I was all set to go.

Two and half hours later, as predicted, I was riding over the numerous flyovers of Salem. Now, if there’s a ratio of Area of City to Number of Flyovers, Salem would beat New Delhi hands down. I went past the junction where the bypass to Chennai splits. Finally at Omalur, I stopped by to have my lunch. National Train Enquiry System said the train I am supposed to capture had departed from Kuppam, which gave me a good two hours before it would reach Danishpet. I was 20 mins away.

Mushroom, as people close to me would know, is my favourite food. Soup, Mushroom. Starters, Mushroom. Gravy, Mushroom. I understand that the variety on my platter has mushroom for improvement, yet I chose Mushroom Biryani for lunch again. 30 odd minutes to finish it and I hit the road again, reaching Danishpet around 14.30 hrs. The train had just reached Doddampatti, giving me ample time to set up camera and decide my angle of capture.

Meanwhile on whatsapp, new updates were received that the Brindavan Express to Bengaluru had gone with Diesel locomotives. Tondiarpet WDM3A twins had hauled Brindavan for the first time in decades. The last time this happened as a regular event, I was not born. If at all such rare events had occurred in the post 90’s era, I had either not been old enough to cover it, or it just never happened. My point is, I had to witness and record this once in a lifetime event. As it is, surviving Corona seems pretty bleak, so why miss the action.

The WAP5 cleared with Nagercoil Express at 15.15 hrs, giving me around two hours for the 125 kms to Patchur, where Brindavan is expected to cross around 17.15 hours. Given the Thoppur ghats in the way, added to the existing Permanent Speed Restriction (PSR) due to Engine issues, this seemed pretty far fetched but I was willing to try. In a six lane road, if three trucks are climbing on all the three lanes in one side, at 15, 16, and 17 kmph respectively, it doesn’t matter if your MPS was 80 kmph or 130. This was precisely what happened in the Thoppur ghats. Creating opportunities, I somehow fought my way through the mighty trucks, reaching Krishnagiri junction by 16.30. Now it was time for Brindavan to depart from Kuppam, which it arrived at 16.45 hrs.

Leaving Krishnagiri after a short break, I accelerated along the Bangalore – Chennai Highway. The highway crosses the Bangalore – Chennai rail route at four places between Krishnagiri and Vellore, namely Patchur, Kettandapatti, Vaniyambadi and Pachakuppam. If lucky, I could get the Brindavan Express at at least two of these places. I reached the bridge at Patchur and NTES said that Brindavan was 1 km to Somanayakampatti, which translated that I had missed it by less than two minutes. The rail route from Patchur to Vaniyambadi takes more than 30 minutes thanks to the useless detour via Jollarpettai Junction, whereas the Highway continues straight and at 60 kmph, one can easily reach in less than 20 minutes. The bridge at Kettandapatti is the least aesthetic and in no time I went past it without bothering a second glance.

As I glanced at the sunset that was going to be beautiful, yet in the wrong angle for my video of Brindavan, a guy on his Fazer 250 hit the divider at more than 130 kmph, less than 200 metres from me. Thankfully, a good number of people gathered around him and called an ambulance which reached the spot in less than 5 minutes. The last update I got is that he was alive while being shifted to the ambulance and his helmet had pretty much been the only reason he survived.

Meanwhile, Brindavan arrived and departed from Vaniyambadi. The sunset was actually beautiful on the Tondiarpet WDM3A twins, and I did regret being amateur with using the DSLR, while also regretting not even attempting to click a photo along with the video I recorded. There are times when you get greedy. Now I wanted to reach Pachakuppam before Brindavan departs Ambur. Did I mention that there were clouds looming when I was clicking the sunset at Vaniyambadi ?

The sky opened up and it was a downpour as I rode along in the torrential rains towards Ambur. In less than five kilometres the skies were clear and road dry, yet precious time was lost. As I came to a halt at one of the two signals at Ambur, NTES confirmed that the train had already crossed Pachakuppam. There was no race or chase, as for impact I brace. Home was the only destination and at 1830 hours, I still had 150 kms to cover.

A dinner break at Ranipet meant I finally reach home at 22.15 hours, one full hour after Brindavan reached Chennai Central. As long as I reached home before Corona struck, I should not be having much regret. 560 kilometres from my place of stay in Coimbatore, via Salem, Danishpet, Vaniyambadi, and Vellore, I had reached home on my Apache. Safe, not sorry.

ABCD. Apache, Brindavan, Corona, Danishpet. 

Wishing a Happy Quarantine’s to all the readers. Do watch the video of the trains captured at https://youtu.be/NqdpvRCZx4o